The Guillotine and the Gunbow
by PencilLunatic
Summary: The butterfly effect happens every day. A small conversation between two mere acquaintances can lead to life changing events later down the road.


**A/N: Even though I'm not very fond on how the anime of Soul Eater handled things near the end, this will take place in the anime universe (With some manga elements here and there).** **Now then, let's not waste anymore time and get on with the show.**

* * *

Azusa yawned. She just came back from the DWMA, and she was exhausted as hell right now. She had been working non-stop since she arrived to help with the Kishin situation. Her fellow Death Scythes were off doing their own thing while she was stuck with Sid and Nygus. Marie was helping out with the students and keeping Stein sane, Spirit was probably still with Lord Death and cheating on women, and Justin was out helping the students out on the field. Speaking of which...

*Knock* *Knock*

'Strange, I'm not expecting any visitors.' She thought before getting off the couch and opening the door. Coincidentally, it was Justin, weirdly enough without his headphones in his ears for once.

"Hello Azusa, may I come in please?" He asked politely and waving his hand a little bit.

"Uh, sure, come on in." She replied stepping out of the way to let him inside. Justin was one of the last people that she expected to visit her, probably THE last. She headed to her kitchen while he sat down on the couch.

"Can I get you anything, coffee, water, anything at all?" The gunbow asked.

"Yeah, coffee would be nice, thank you." Replied the executioner. Azusa nodded as she took out the coffee beans and began to brew it. Once she was finished, she took out two coffee cups and poured it for the two.

"Would you like anything with your coffee?" She asked again.

"Just some sugar would be fine. Just one cube though please." Azusa took out a sugar cube and dropped it into Justin's cup. She headed back to the couch with the two cups in hand.

"Thank you." Justin thanked her with a smile as he took his cup.

"Don't mention it. Anyway, why have you decided to come here?" She asked sitting down and taking a sip from her cup. Justin's smile didn't fade.

"Nothing, I just wanted to talk to an old friend I guess." He replied taking a sip from his own.

"Okay. If that's what it is, then what do you want to talk about?" Her reply was a shrug.

"I don't know. How is work going for you?" Azusa sighed.

"Stressful. This Kishin has really become a pain in everyone's asses, and unfortunately I'm not an exception, and that isn't even going into the other threats that are hiding out there in secret. Overall, work hasn't exactly been pleasant, and Sid and Nygus will agree with me on that. What about you?"

"Well, I have been helping out in the field with missions. I just recently came back from helping out Maka and Soul as a matter of fact." Azusa put down her coffee on the table next to her couch before leaning her head back.

"You know, I kinda envy you on that. I'm stuck in the office while Lord Death lets you go out and do your thing." Justin chuckled.

"Well, don't be too envious, the field work isn't any easier. The guy I fought managed to put up a good fight against me, so don't feel too bad. Everything has become a pain in the ass now, and I can sympathize." That got a small laugh out of the dark haired Death Scythe. He was right, nothing was easy for anybody now.

"I guess you're right. I really shouldn't be acting this way." She said returning his smile. They continued to talk over different things for half an hour before Azusa saw that they had conversed until 10:00. At that point, Justin thanked her for letting him visit and asked if he could visit some other time, which she agreed to. With that, Justin bid his farewell and Azusa hit the hay for the night.

* * *

 **After the battle for BREW**

* * *

The mission was nothing more than a failure. Arachne had managed to get her hands on BREW, putting everyone in an even tighter spot than before. Things seemed to be getting from bad to worse, first Medusa releases the Kishin, and now BREW was in the hands of another witch. Lord Death had called in Buttataki Joe to help out with the case, and good thing too, since they were going to need all the help they could get right about now.

At the moment, Azusa was just heading back from another day of hard work back to her apartment complex, and just as he said, Justin was waiting for her at the door. He looked to be sweating and shaking a little bit too. At least he was wearing his headphones, though she couldn't tell if he was listening to music or not.

"I didn't really expect to see you here this early if you were going to talk to me." She said, causing Justin to blush and chuckle nervously.

"Ehh, I guess I just have too much time on my hands, sorry." He replied rubbing the back of his head. Azusa smiled in amusement at the sight before. It was quite rare to see Justin Law, a man who was always confident on the battlefield, who always praised Lord Death without holding back in public, acting nervous.

"It's fine. You can come in, just let me open the door." The blonde nodded and moved out of the way, letting her open up. Like last time he took a seat on the couch while Azusa prepared another batch of coffee.

"I wonder how Joe would feel if he had a taste of your coffee." Commented Justin, which resulted in Azusa lightly laughing.

"He would most likely say that it tasted like oil. I wonder what caused him to become so critical of coffee." She said.

"I guess people just like to be critical of different things. Some for books, movies, or even food or beverages." After the coffee was done, she came back to the couch.

"So, what is it that you want to talk about today?" She asked sitting down and handing over a cup to Justin.

"I guess I just needed to get mind off of the mission for BREW, so I decided to come here." He answered.

"I would normally think that you would be listening to music or praising Lord Death."

"Still, I don't think that would be enough to take my mind off of what nearly happend to me." Azusa raised an eyebrow. What almost happend to Justin?

"May I ask, what was it?" Justin sighed before taking a sip.

"When I fought the same man that I fought to save Maka, Soul, and Crona, there was something else. It looked like a mutated monster clown. I managed to kill it, but I nearly lost myself to the madness in the process."

Azusa widened her eyes at this. Justin almost fell to the madness? It sounded unlikely, taking his past behavior into consideration. Still, for anyone, an event like that would be terrifying. She made a mental note to inform Lord Death about the clown. She put a hand on his shoulder sympathetically.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Justin managed to smile. He placed his hand on her's and slowly took it off.

"It's fine, I will get over it. Besides, I really can't let that stop me from any task at hand, I am Justin Law after all." Azusa giggled slightly.

"That's true. Hey, I have a question?" He raised an eyebrow.

"And that is?"

"How come whenever you come here, you either don't have anything playing or just leave out your headphones completely?" She asked. Justin thought about that for a moment before shrugging and taking another sip of his coffee.

"I have no idea. I guess I just want to talk to someone normally for once." She knew that he was hiding something, but she didn't want to pry. Azusa switched the subject.

"You know...what do you listen to anyway?"

"Lots of things. Heavy metal, rap music that people would call cheesy, and many others. I don't limit myself to just one genre of music."

"Can I...listen to a song?" Justin nodded with a widening grin. He took out his music player and went through his playlist until he found one that he was satisfied with.

"Here is one that I'm very fond of. It's a country song that I'm sure you'll like." He took out one of his headphones and handed it to the female Death Scythe. She took it and placed it in her ear.

The song was very peaceful and at the same time pretty sad, yet also hopeful in a way. She never really heard country music before, but after hearing this, she wouldn't mind checking out some of the songs for the genre. Azusa found herself slowly falling asleep to the soothing instrumentals and calming lyrics. Noticing this, after the song finished playing, Justin carried her to her room where he set her down and pulled a blanket over her.

"Goodnight Azusa." He said with a small smile. Before he left he washed their now empty coffee cups. He felt he had to repay her in some way for letting him visit.

* * *

 **Post Kishin and Arachnophobia Fight**

* * *

Justin was back in the DWMA after the invasion on Baba Yaga Castle. Arachne and the Kishin were no more, and the same went for her other henchman, Mosquito and Giriko, the latter of which he took out himself. Now he could go back to Europe, but that also meant that Azusa would leave too. The thought was saddening to the blonde to say the least. He had grown to enjoy the small conversations he had with her in-between missions. He thought that she was a fun person to hang around with, and the chances that he would talk to her again in person was small to say the least. There were probably more of those clowns out there, and now he might need to help search for them. Justin looked at Azusa, who was standing alongside Marie, Stein, Spirit, and the rest of their comrades, and he walked up to her while everyone else was doing something else.

"So, the Kishin is dead now, and we don't have to worry about madness for a while. Are you planning on leaving Death City?" He asked her. She gave him a firm nod.

"I have to, it is my job after all, same for you and Marie. We only came here to help out with the fight against the Kishin and he's gone, our mission here is complete." She told him. Azusa didn't fail to notice the solemn look in Justin's eyes.

"I guess." He replied simply.

"Is something wrong Justin?" Azusa asked him. Justin shuffled his feet a little bit before answering.

"I'm just...going to miss our conversations with each other. We rarely get to see each other since we're all separated, so I decided that maybe I should get to know you better. I never really had any friends before. I mean there's Tezca, but I can't read his lips with that bear mask on his head." Azusa gave him a questioning look.

"Then why did you take your headphones off whenever you talked to me?" She asked. Justin all of a sudden became a little nervous.

"On a whim." She knew there was something he wasn't telling her, but once again, she didn't want to pry. Forcing people to say something they wanted to say on their own time wasn't something she was fond of. Justin would tell her whenever he felt like it.

Once they made it back to the desert and Death City was back to where it was, Justin decided it was best for him to leave.

"Well, it was nice while it lasted I guess. Hopefullty this won't be the last time we see each other Justin." Azusa told him with a small smile. Justin looked at her with a blush on his face before swallowing a lump in his throat.

"Azusa...would it be okay if...w-we w-wrote to each other while we are away?" This caught her off guard. She wasn't expecting a question like that. It didn't seem bad though, so why not, she would like to keep in touch with someone else besides Marie.

"Sure, I don't see why not." She answered sincerely. Then, all of a sudden, Justin engulfed her into a tight hug with the brightest smile anybody ever saw him with.

"Thank you!" Azusa's face went red immediately, and what made it worse was that his exclamation caught the attention of everyone else in the room. Marie looked ecstatic, Stein and Joe were wide-eyed, Sid, Nygus, and Crona gave them questioning looks, Spirit's mouth was agape, and Lord Death and Excalibur...they honestly couldn't tell.

"Justin, you might want to stop hugging me now." She whispered. It was then Justin noticed everyone else in the room and backed away immediately. After a moment of awkward silence, he cleared his throat and spoke up.

"Well, I must be going now. Who knows if there are anymore of those clowns out there." As he exited, Azusa felt a presence near her and saw Marie standing in front of her with that same look on her face.

"So...is marriage a plan for the future?" She asked innocently.

Azusa never spoke much for the rest of the day.

* * *

 **1 year later**

* * *

Lord Death decided to celebrate the one year anniversary of the defeat of the Kishin. He decided to invite all the Death Scythes to go to the party at the DWMA, and of course, that included Justin and Azusa. While Azusa was reluctant to go, she did eventually decide to attend to just see Justin again. Justin was the same case.

At the party, Justin decided to wear something else for once. While he still had his necklace and zucchetto, this time he decided to wear a simple black tuxedo. He was standing near the punch bar, waiting for Azusa to arrive. He then heard the door open and when he saw her his jaw dropped.

Azusa was wearing a dark red sleeveless dress that went down to her knees, she had on black high heels, and she also had red lipstick on. Beside her was Marie in her own formal attire, and he believed that it was her idea for Azusa to wear something besides he usual outfit, since he didn't see Azusa as the type to wear something like that. Regardless, he thought she looked gorgeous. Marie was headed to converse with Stein, so he took this opportunity to walk up to her and greet her.

"Hey Azusa, you look...very beautiful tonight." Justin complimented her. Azusa turned around and was slightly surprised to see Justin in something different for once. He looked...rather nice actually.

"Hey Justin, and you don't look too shabby yourself." She complimented him back.

"So, how has life been for you this past year?" He asked, trying to get a conversation going.

"It's been fine, more or less. I managed to come across several of those clowns that you told me about, though they weren't that much of a problem. What about you?"

"Same old. I patrol Western Europe for anything out of place, if I see something bad I stop it, all while listening to awesome music. That is basically what a regular work day for me is like."

"That's the same for Marie, Tezca, and every other Death Scythe that isn't named Spirit Albarn." That got a chuckle out of Justin.

"Sorry for the obvious statement. I'm not really the best when it comes to starting a conversation."

"Well, I'll give you an A for effort I guess." She told him with a small smile.

The rest of the night went by smoothly. People chatted, danced, got drunk, and everyone was having an overall very good time. Then Lord Death came up and announced that they were having a slow dance. As soon as the music turned on, most people got with their partners and started to dance. Seeing an opportunity, Justin turned to Azusa and offered his hand.

"Care to dance Azusa?" He asked in the sweetest voice he could do, trying to keep out any nervousness. Azusa blushed at his offer, but decided to go for nonetheless.

"Alright, but don't blame me if I step on you, I don't dance much." She informed him taking his hand and Justin put his arm around her waist.

Despite what she said, Azusa didn't really cause any problems because of her lack of dance experience. Justin figured it was probably about much faster paced dancing. For the rest of the night, they were in their own little world, not bothering to pay attention to anyone else. It was just him and her, and for Justin, it was a dream come true. Lord Death couldn't help but smile under his mask at the two Death Scythes.

'Those two are good for each other. Justin needs someone else in his life, and I've never seen a smile like that on Azusa's face before, not even with Marie. They sure do enjoy each other's company.' He thought.

Soon, the night began to settle down and everybody went back home. Justin and Azusa were one of the last to leave.

"This was a very good night, wouldn't you say Azusa?" He told her. She happily nodded.

"Yeah, I wasn't expecting to enjoy this night as much as I did, and if it wasn't for you being good company, I probably would have been true. You're a very nice guy, so thank you very much." Justin blushed at the praise.

Then, as if he thought things couldn't get any better, Azusa leaned up a gave him a kiss on the cheek, which resulted in him turning even redder.

"I wouldn't mind more nights like these in the future. Good night Justin." The blonde just stood there with a big dumb grin on his face, his mind blank as Azusa walked out of sight.

If this was an indication of things to come, then he was REALLY looking forward to the future.

* * *

 **5 years later**

* * *

It was the middle of the night when the youngest Death Scythe (Besides Soul Eater Evans) woke up to the sound of a cry coming from the room next to his. He woke up-much to his displeasure-and found the other side of his king-sized bed to be empty. Getting up, he went to the room next door and found his wife gently rocking his three month old son, trying to get him to stop crying and go to sleep. She turned around and spotted her husband standing in the doorway.

"Justin, sorry about this, it seems little Joshua has woken up at a bad time. You can go back to sleep, I can handle this." Justin just walked up to her and rubbed Joshua's dark hair.

"Azusa, we are both responsible for him, neither one of us should do this alone." He told her. Joshua quit his crying and looked up at his smiling father with his small blue eyes. The infant started to smile himself and reached to his father's hand, taking it and wrapping it his arms. Azusa giggled at her baby boy's action.

"Who would've thought that our small conversations that began seven years ago could lead to this. Now we are married and we even have our own little bundle of joy." Azusa said, reminiscing.

"Yeah. I can't even imagine what could've happened if I didn't decide to knock on your apartment door. You probably would have found someone else, and I might've never gotten to know the beautiful women before me." Justin responded. After a few more minutes, Joshua was finally back to sleep. Justin took the teddy bear in his crib and replaced his arm with it. After a good night kiss from Azusa, Joshua was placed inside it once again.

"Sweet dreams my little angel." She whispered before the couple turned off the light switch and headed back to their room. They got under the sheets and gave each other a good night kiss.

"Good night Justin."

"Good night Azusa."

The two Death Scythes couldn't be any more satisfied with how their lives turned out.

* * *

 **A/N: There you have it. Love it, hate it, indifferent to it? Let me know in a review. Thanks for reading.**


End file.
